


From Here

by spicyboyfriend



Series: Fated [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: First Kiss, Flash Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 04:36:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19738447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spicyboyfriend/pseuds/spicyboyfriend
Summary: Mark was sitting on the floor of his bedroom when it first happened. When Donghyuck first kissed him, really kissed him.





	From Here

Mark was sitting on the floor of his bedroom when it first happened. When Donghyuck first kissed him, really kissed him. 

They had tried once before, though Jaehyun interrupted it by busting into the room and scaring them both shitless, so it hardly counted as anything more than a weak attempt. Donghyuck admitted he was still hesitant to kiss Mark after that, so Mark didn’t press on it, but he would have been lying if he said he wasn’t a little disappointed. 

Mark had never kissed anyone before. How was he supposed to initiate it if he had  _ no idea  _ how to kiss someone? Was it easy? Was it hard? Was there a lot of thinking involved? What if he forgot to close his eyes? Oh god, that would’ve been so  _ weird  _ if he got so nervous that he didn’t close his eyes. Donghyuck would’ve made fun of him for it for the rest of his life.

Really, Mark had invited Donghyuck over to study— at first. They were cross legged on the floor of his bedroom, books in their laps as Donghyuck moved to rub his neck, as he did often from how hunched he sat when he studied. Mark reached over instead, pressing his thumb and forefinger into either side on the column of Donghyuck’s neck, massaging the tender spot as Donghyuck sighed and thanked Mark without sparing it a second of thought.

“You’re stressed,” Mark observed, and Donghyuck brushed it off like it wasn’t a big deal, when it really was. Donghyuck had really picked up his studies. It almost hurt Mark to see him strain himself like that, but really, he had to applaud Donghyuck at the end of the day for it.

“It’s just because I haven’t been sleeping,” Donghyuck answered. Mark squeezed his fingers just a bit harder than he had before, and Donghyuck let out a soft hiss.

“Too much?”

“No, do it again. It’s really tense.”

Mark repeated his ministrations, and Donghyuck grumbled quietly about how tired he was. Truthfully, it was evident on Donghyuck’s face just how tired he was. From the dark circles under his eyes to the lessening attempts at smiling and grinning, Donghyuck was  _ tired.  _ He still made time for Mark, even with his studies and projects piling up as the year progressed, and Mark was so thankful for it, but.... Well, he couldn’t help but feel a little selfish, for wanting Donghyuck, even though he was obviously dealing with his own work.

Sometimes Mark wondered if he ever really did anything for Donghyuck. Donghyuck was... the first person Mark ever dated, the first one he ever held hands with, the first person he ever liked and the feelings were actually  _ reciprocated.  _ There was... so much behind what Donghyuck meant to Mark, behind what he did for him, behind how happy he made him. Mark knew it wasn’t ideal to depend on somebody for happiness, but he couldn’t help taking note of how light his heart felt every time Donghyuck smiled at him, or when they held hands and Donghyuck apologized for his clammy palms.

The situation wasn’t the same on Donghyuck’s part, though. Donghyuck had dated someone before. He never said who, and honestly, Mark wasn’t really sure if he wanted to know. But Mark wasn’t Donghyuck’s first  _ anything: _ not his first crush or his first love, and when they kissed, Mark wouldn’t even be Donghyuck’s first kiss. Not that being first mattered or made it less meaningful. Just that Mark felt like he was in competition with Donghyuck’s previous firsts, and it was terrifying to think of himself in competition with somebody who wasn’t even there anymore.

Eventually Mark let his hand drop back to his side, and Donghyuck thanked him again before he flipped the page to his math book and pulled out his notebook, ready to start on the 50 problem homework his teacher assigned for the night being. Things were silent, the only sound in their house the ambient noise of his mother washing dishes in the kitchen and Jaehyun talking in his bedroom, probably to Doyoung and Hansol, as he did that often now.

And Mark.... Mark looked at Donghyuck. The time he spent staring at Donghyuck itself was intimate alone, but paired with the fact that Donghyuck moved to tuck a piece of his hair behind his ear and Mark did it for him instead.... It made it so much more, and then Donghyuck  _ caught  _ him staring.

“What?” Donghyuck said. Mark shook his head.

“Sorry,” he offered weakly, but didn’t look away. Donghyuck didn’t give the usual short response he would when Mark was acting “weird”, but instead, self-consciously brushed his hair away from his face again. The gesture was so ridiculously endearing, Mark hated himself for noticing just how intensely his heart swelled at the sight of Donghyuck meekly flushing.

Despite Donghyuck’s best attempts to ignore Mark and how he was looking at him, Donghyuck found his eyes wandering back towards Mark more than once. Finally, after finishing four problems, Donghyuck pushed his math book to the side, setting it down on the floor as Mark blinked, like coming back from a daze.

Unlike last time, there was no warning. There was no question of whether or not Donghyuck could kiss Mark, though it wasn’t like Mark would’ve said no, even if Donghyuck did ask. There was no rush either. Just Mark and Donghyuck, and Donghyuck’s hands on either side of Mark’s neck as he leaned in and looked at Mark’s lips. Mark mimicked the action, glancing down at Donghyuck’s own. They were bitten with concentration, red and slightly dry, but not too bad. Donghyuck’s lips were a little more supple than his own were, and Mark fixated on that as he lifted his own hands from his sides and tangled his fingers in Donghyuck’s messy chestnut brown colored hair.

It was... gentle. So gentle, Mark hardly even registered that their lips had touched. Donghyuck pulled back, his eyes still fluttered shut, like he was afraid to open them. His bottom lip trembled, and Mark unconsciously moved his hand from Donghyuck’s hair, brushed his thumb against his bottom lip and felt Donghyuck’s warm breath flooding over his skin.

When Mark pulled his thumb away and set his hand down on Donghyuck’s waist instead, he leaned in again, caught Donghyuck’s bottom lip between his own and kissed him,  _ really  _ kissed him. It was clumsy, and Donghyuck took a second longer to respond than Mark had expected, but he kissed back either way. One of his hands on Mark’s neck felt warm, practically hot against him. Mark wasn’t really sure if what he was doing classified as a good kiss. He was trying really hard to keep moving his lips against Donghyuck’s own, and Donghyuck hadn’t broken the kiss to say anything  _ bad,  _ so maybe Mark wasn’t doing as bad as he thought he would’ve!

Before Mark could even think, Donghyuck had pulled away, sitting his book in his lap again before turning Mark’s gaze back down to his own textbook. Parting his lips to ask why Donghyuck had cut it so suddenly (and tragically!) short, his bedroom door swung open, Jaehyun poking his head inside and throwing a tennis ball at Mark on the floor.

“Hey!” Jaehyun shouted like Mark was in trouble, so Mark looked up at met his gaze, nodding. “I just wanted to bother you.”

“What? Why?!” Mark shouted after him as Jaehyun slammed his door shut, Mark grabbing the tennis ball and threatening to throw it at the door, even though Jaehyun was already long gone.

The silence that followed was short lived, as Donghyuck hardly allowed Mark a moment to spare before he cleared his throat, cheeks still tinged with a red blush.

“Sorry.”

Mark blinked away his shock, eyes slightly widened. “Sorry for what?”

“I... didn’t ask,” Donghyuck said vaguely. Mark was clearly not catching on, so he elaborated, “I didn’t ask if I could kiss you before I did it.”

“Oh!” Mark said, and then furrowed his brows. “Do you have to ask before you kiss someone?”

“You  _ should,”  _ Donghyuck said, sheepish, “at least for the first time.”

“It’s not like I minded,” Mark offered, and then rubbed the back of his neck, clearly embarrassed as he parted his lips to speak again. “Uhm, actually, I want to kiss you again. If that’s okay.”

Donghyuck hesitated, only taken aback by Mark’s nonchalance with him not asking the first time, before he nodded and settled back in his spot on the floor, leaning in and waiting for Mark to move first, his eyes carefully tracing over the curve of Mark’s dark lashes as he blinked.

Mark was sitting on the floor of his bedroom the first time Donghyuck kissed him. It wasn’t anything particularly special. There was no mood that had to be set beforehand. Mark didn’t have to think all that much about what he was doing, and his eyes weren’t open. It was just him and Donghyuck, and a warm, fuzzy feeling that settled in the pit of his chest as he sat back in his spot and continued to massage Donghyuck’s neck as he started on the fifth problem of his math homework.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this fic in march 2017, immediately after finishing/posting sunsoaked, and waited until i was comfortable enough to post it. it's hardly edited, and hardly could be called a fic, but i think about it all the time, and thought it'd be nice to share it.
> 
> the series name is from the song ["fated" by adib sin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ipkX74SE0), the artist who also inspired the title ["sunsoaked"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2ffRUO7WSY). this fic's name is also from adib sin's song, [from here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQPUF4Wh3_w). the original name for this fic was "tiny dots", inspiration drawn from la dispute.
> 
> thank you for waiting patiently. thank you for always being here. i love you!


End file.
